- Funding
- Grant letters
- Funding for colleges
Allocation of funding- Funding streams
- Funding for universities
- Capital funding & projects
Allocation of funding
The main grant letter allocates £572 million. These allocations are split into two main categories: general funding and strategic fund. General funding includes teaching and fee waiver and student support. Further Education (FE) Funding is responsible for both these elements within general funding.
The main teaching grant (£401 million) is allocated on the basis of activity to which a standard unit price is attached. Any fees that colleges are assumed to earn is removed from this process and the grant is enhanced to recognise additional costs such as entry costs, social inclusion, remoteness and achievement.
We also allocate funds to influence the geographical supply of education. This includes providing additional funding to the central region, the south region, the west highlands, Lanarkshire and Dunbartonshire.
Full-time FE education is free to those deemed legally resident. It is also free to students on discrete courses or who are on certain benefits such as Disabled Living Allowance (DLA), incapacity benefit etc. Part-time FE education is means tested. Once colleges have submitted their final data, SFC will aim to settle the cost of fee waivers in full or clawback any unused funds.
The student support allocations consist of £64 million for bursary support and £15 million for FE discretionary funds and childcare funds. Bursary funds are allocated on the basis of previous spend behaviour. The other funds are allocated according to student activity, headcount and deprivation. There is an emphasis towards part-time students in the childcare fund allocations. SFC runs an in-year redistribution process to direct the funds to where they are most need this includes colleges giving up funds and clawbacks from previous years.
Circulars
Main grants to colleges for academic year 2009-10
Revised formula capital funding for colleges 2008-11
Policies
SFC policies that FE Funding are responsible for are:
- SUMs guidance - 2008-09 student activity data guidance for colleges
- Fee waiver policy - College sector student support and fee waiver grant policies: 2009-10 (pdf 521kb)
- National policy for further education bursaries - College sector student support and fee waiver grant policies: 2009-10 (pdf 505kb)
- FE discretionary and childcare policy - 2009-10 National Policy: FE discretionary fund and childcare fund (pdf 285kb)
We are also involved in national government strategies such as Lifelong Partners and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL).